No Penalties for Letting Board Members Jump Vaccine Line: Inaction by Neronha Against CNE & Lifespan

No Penalties for Letting Board Members Jump Vaccine Line: Inaction by Neronha Against CNE & Lifespan

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Tuesday that Care New England and Lifespan "erred" by letting board members jump the lines for vaccines -- but that he would not be taking any legal action. 

In January, GoLocal reported that wealthy Rhode Islanders were skipping the line to get vaccinated due to their positions as simply board members of the hospital groups and not frontline healthcare workers or first responders. 

The public -- and legislators -- voiced their outrage. 

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Neronha's wife is a physician for Coastal Medical, which is in the process of a merger with Lifespan. He also has regulatory oversight over the proposed CNE-Lifespan merger that has billions of dollars at stake - and has refused to answer questions about whether or not his wife's position constitutes a conflict of interest.

Does Neronha Have Conflict

"Financial conflicts of interest occur when someone, or their relative, or business associate, derives a financial benefit from a decision they make in their official capacity," said Common Cause Executive Director John Marion. "So the question here seems to be whether the Attorney General's wife would be financially impacted by any decision he makes in his statutory oversight of the Lifespan-Care New England merger."

On Tuesday, Neronha said while the hospital groups “erred” in allowing the line jumping to take place, due to the fact that that vaccinating board members was “neither in conformity with nor in violation of RIDOH’s guidance," he could only “offer guiding principles” moving forward, calling for “transparency” and “best practices.”

SEE LETTER HERE

"Because RIDOH gave Lifespan and CNE wide discretion in vaccinating their hospital staff, including vaccination prioritization, we cannot find that Lifespan or CNE violated any specific directives, policies or laws in connection with their decision to vaccinate board members.  Nevertheless, for reasons set forth in the letter, this Office strongly believes that Lifespan and CNE should have acted differently," said Neronha's office in a statement. 

"By offering vaccinations to all of their board members, irrespective of any individualized criteria applicable to Rhode Islanders generally, at a time when Rhode Islanders were gravely concerned about their health and that of their loved ones, Lifespan and CNE erred, and significantly so," the continued. "This erosion of public confidence in the fairness of the process undermines broader willingness to follow the rules."

"This unfortunate episode highlighted the consequences of straying too far from those public health principles that have guided vaccine distribution in Rhode Island: vaccinating those who are at greatest risk of spreading, contracting, and dying from COVID-19," the office added. "As Rhode Island’s health care advocate, we hope that these principles continue to guide our vaccine distribution policies in the state.”